In
late 2007, HP has announced the Mature Product
Support without Sustaining Engineering (MPS w/o
SE) limited support extension for the HP e3000
installed base through 31 December 2010. As HP
transitions from the Basic Support model to the
MPS w/o SE model (see
HP e3000 2010 extension details), HP will
provide additional communications between now
and the end of the year to provide customers
updates and responses to various requests
pertaining to end-of-life that have been made
through user forums and partners in the recent
years. This first set of communications
addresses the following topics:
Beta Patch Availability
Hewlett-Packard will provide Mature Product Support without Sustaining
Engineering Support (MPS w/o SE) through 31 December 2010. After that we will
release to the HP ITRC web site, the majority of all remaining patches that are
still in what we call the “Beta Test Phase”. These are patches that have had
little or no customer exposure since being developed. Before 31 December 2010
only customers with a valid HP support contract may request “beta” patches. This
strategy will help us keep track of “beta” patch distribution through the MPS
w/o SE support period and may allow us to test additional “beta” patches and
move them into the “General Release Phase”. After Hewlett-Packard support ends
in 2010, releasing “beta” patches ensures that those of our customers remaining
on the HPe3000 platform will have the most complete pool of remedies for any
issue that may arise. All released “beta” patches will have additional verbiage
added to the patch description indicating that they are “beta” rather than
certified generally released.
Post HP Support ITRC Patches &
www.docs.hp.com Documentation Availability
HP’s intention is to make MPE/iX online documentation
(www.docs.hp.com) and qualified patches (on ITRC) available via the current
access process through December 31, 2015. However, HP recommends that customers
and partners download their required patches and documentation at their earliest
convenience.
AD377A RTU License Price Reduction (effective 7/1/2008)
In February of 2007, the MPE/iX team at Hewlett-Packard developed and released
a MPE/iX licensing product, AD377A, to assist customers in their upgrades. After
a review of market conditions, HP has reduced the licensing prices 35% to 50%
from the 2007 price list. This new pricing has been in effect since July, 1st
2008.
AD377A RTU Lost License Replacement
HP has enhanced the Right-to-Use license product (AD377A) to allow reissuing of
a replacement license in a lost license situation. This process will address the
case where a customer has an HP e3000 system that does not have verifiable
licensing information. For more information, please visit:
http://www.hp.com/products1/evolution/e3000/hw_lic_update.html.
CE Handbook Availability
The HP CE Handbook is a document that describes the HP e3000 systems
configuration process. Due to the level of intellectual property information in
the handbook, a decision was reached to not release the CE Handbook to
customers, 3rd party resellers, or support providers.
SSCONFIG & SS_Update Tools Licensing
The configuration of the hardware personality of an HP e3000 system is
accomplished by the use of a tool called SSCONFIG or SS_Update. Because of
intellectual property leveraged on other HP hardware platforms, the decision was
reached to not license SSCONFIG and SS_Update tools to customers, 3rd party
resellers, or support providers.
Running MPE/iX on HP 9000 Hardware
HP is reaffirming the decision to not enable the MPE/iX operating system on the
HP 9000 platform. Customers can acquire used systems through the secondary
market.
HP Invent3K Public Timeshare System Transition
Since 2001, the MPE/iX team at Hewlett-Packard has managed and maintained a
development system for MPE/iX software developers. This system, known as
invent3k, is accessible on the internet and contains a full suite of development
tools for those wanting to develop and test MPE/iX applications.
In order to provide the user community continued accessibility to a public
timeshare system, the OpenMPE organization has assumed this role and is
providing and maintaining an HP e3000 system running on top of the latest MPE/iX
7.5 release. For any additional details and access information to the new
invent3k system, please contact the invent3k system manager directly at
invent3k@openmpe.org.
The original invent3k system, located at invent3k.external.hp.com, will still be
accessible through 30 November 2008. After November 30th, this system will be
shutdown.
HP Invent9K Public Timeshare System
HP Invent9K is another public timeshare system that was made available by
Hewlett-Packard in 2002 to customers and partners to use as a way to help them
to learn and adjust to HPUX operating environment. Due to the extremely low
usage in the past few years, HP will retire the Invent9K system effective 30
November 2008.
Online Diagnostic Passwords Removal
HP will put in place a process that will allow customers to access online
diagnostics (cstm) without requiring passwords after HP Support exits the Mature
Product Support w/o Sustaining Engineering phase. A more detailed communication
via www.hp.com/go/e3000 and/or 3000L will be made available at that time.
As mentioned above, this is the first set of ongoing communications. Therefore,
not all the customer requests have been incorporated into this communication
release. As always, HP values our customers and looks forward to continuing to
provide them the best-in-class services.
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